Northern Pac. Ry. Co. v. Heaton

Citations

• 191 F. 24
• 111 C.C.A. 548
• 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4929

Syllabus

<p>1. Evidence (586*) — Action for Injury at Crossing — Crossing Signals— When Question for Jury.</p> <p>The testimony of a number of witnesses, whose attention was called to a railroad train as it approached a crossing at night, at which it struck and injured plaintiff, and who were near enough to have heard the crossing signals, if given, that they heard no such signals, is sufficient to sustain the finding of a jury that the signals were not given, notwithstanding the affirmative testimony, of the engineer and fireman that they were. .</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Evidence, Cent. Dig. §§ 2432-2435; Dec. Dig. 586.*</p> <p>Duty to give warning signals at crossing, see note to Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co. v. Steele, 29 C. C. A. 90.]</p> <p>2. Railroads (§ 348*) — Action for Injury at Crossing — Proximate Cause of Injury — Failure to Give Crossing Signals.</p> <p>The fact that a plaintiff, a boy 12 years old, on approaching a railroad crossing at night, did not notice the lighted train by which he was struck and injured, does not establish as matter of law, and contrary to the verdict of a jury, that the failure to give the crossing signals, by bell and whistle, was not a proximate cause of the injury.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Railroads, Dec. Dig. § 348.*]</p> <p>3. Railroads (§ 350*) — Accidents at Crossings — Contributory Negligence.</p> <p>The care required of a minor on approaching a railroad crossing on a highway varies with his age, intelligence, and experience, and the fact that a boy less than 12 years old failed to see an approaching train at night, by which he was struck and injured, does not establish contributory negligence as matter of law, which will preclude a recovery for his injuries, although the train was lighted, and he could have seen it, if he had looked, from a time when the train was 1,600 feet from the crossing.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Railroads, Dec. Dig. § 350.*]</p> <p>4. Witnesses (§ 401*) — Cross-E